14 Dec Could You Be Guilty of Over-Promising?
There is no doubt the insurance agency world is highly competitive, with agencies always looking to position themselves in a more favorable light. For this reason, some agencies (and possibly some producers) tend to “stretch” the truth or over-promise what they can deliver. They include certain statements in their promotional material, on their website, in their proposals, or even verbal statements that sound very positive and can generate some additional sales. But are these statements always true? Unfortunately, from time to time, some of these statements are not.
So what’s the problem with this? I remember many years ago when I was at the agency side of the business when the agency owner intentionally misled a customer on how their insurance would respond in the event of a claim. As the marketing manager for the agency, I questioned him on it, and his actual response to me was, “they will only know that I didn’t know what I was talking about if they have a claim and what are the chances of that.” These were not just words. He actually believed it!
The problem with over-promising is that your customers rely upon the information you include in your written promotional material or your verbal words. Suppose they have a problem and can refer to conversations or written materials (such as proposals or promotional material). In that case, they may have grounds for some legal action against the agency.
When was the last time you thoroughly reviewed your promotional material, your website, or your various proposals? Does it include words such as “expert” or “specialist” or statements such as “we will make sure that you have the proper coverage to protect you in the event of a claim”? Those sound very positive, but they also have the potential to raise the standard of care that your agency would be held to. Also, are they true, or are they simply marketing fluff?
In addition, agency management (especially the one in charge of the production/sales staff) should constantly reinforce these issues to ensure the sales folks don’t create more problems by over-promising. The bi-weekly/monthly sales meetings present great opportunities to deliver this message.
For the printed agency message, every agency should have a point person that has the overall responsibility of developing and periodically updating the agency promotional message.